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House Prices Soaring

This heading “House Prices Soaring” seems to be a title that is becoming the norm as this article from the NZ Herald indicates:

Average asking prices for houses have smashed through the half-million-dollar barrier for the first time and new figures from realestate.co.nz reveal the average national asking price for homes peaked at $511,421 last month, up from the previous high of $498,471 in January. The Auckland market had the highest average asking price, posting a record $764,000, up $87,000 from 12 months ago and more than $200,000 from early 2012.

Property commentator Olly Newland said he was surprised at the pace of the latest property surge. “It makes me wonder where it’s going to end,” he said.

The new data was further bad news for first-home owners looking to break into the Auckland market, especially those looking for houses in popular city suburbs.

“First-home buyers are going to keep missing out.

“They need to stop dreaming about buying in the middle of Auckland city, unless it’s an apartment. People who are renting and want to buy shouldn’t hang about.”

Realestate.co.nz spokesman and board director Bryan Thomson said the figures were a sign of “robust growth” in the property market.

The release of the data comes as banks step up their competition for the mortgage market. Kiwibank will tomorrow drop its two-year home lending rate to 5.39 per cent, matching deals offered by ANZ, BNZ, ASB and Westpac. Spokesman Bruce Thompson said the move was to ensure the bank remained competitive. Banks were also offering incentives such as TVs, iPads and cash for new clients.